[kstrauss]

The Tormach SmartCool appears to be a great tool but, as a mostly hobbyist, I can't justify its cost. Has anyone investigated reverse engineering it?.

[rowbare]

Ken,

Check out this thread: https://www.cnczone.com/forums/open-...t-nozzles.html

bob

[kstrauss]

That thread was my original inspiration! BTW my Leonardo now convinces PP that it is a SmartCool and it understands coolant on/off, alt-U, alt-D, etc.

[rdsi]

While creating some digital output lines using the extra port already available on the MESA card this thought passed through my mind also. So I dug deeper into this idea.

First, I don't think this is a good marketing idea. There just is not enough volume to justify it, hence the high cost that Tormach charges. If you're using your machine in a business venture & this product will really improve your bottom line cost is not going to be a problem.

For the rest of us, yeah, it could be implemented pretty easily. It's really just a coding issue and the hardware is off-the-shelf stuff with a little fabrication, but hey, that's what we do ...

So all we need is a stepper motor hanging onto the spindle with an adapter to hold our coolant/mist line - nothing to that. So after nosing around a bit in PP my first thought was to use the available I/O on the MESA card to drive the stepper motor. There are several step generators already programmed in the FPGA that can be used for this purpose. With some modifications to PP this could done pretty easily since the framework is already there.

Another approach is to use a separate micro-controller such as Teensy or ItsBitsy to emulate the product that Tormach offers. PP would not have to be modified but one would have to code the micro to emulate the Tormach unit. Depending on your coding skills this could be more difficult than modifying PP.

I have several IDE/debuggers that I use for developing micros on other projects & my first thought is that it would be easier to modify PP & use the MESA I/O already available. That being said you just really don't know until you get into it.

Anyway, it's on my mind too.

[kstrauss]

All good thoughts and I considered most before starting anything. I'll try to explain my decision process:
Yes, it is a small volume accessory so the price has to be high to recoup development costs. I have no intentions of selling a substitute.

If I were running a production shop I wouldn't hesitate to purchase a turnkey unit. I see this as mainly a learning exercise between paying work and a way to keep my aging brain working.

My coding skills with micros is far better than with Linux so I wanted to minimize PP changes. Plus, it is an ongoing pain to retrofit changes after each PP release.

Using a stepper has many advantages but requires some sort of homing mechanism to position it on startup. I didn't want to require a custom PCB to combine the micro and stepper driver for a one-off. With that in mind I'm using a R/C servo. That means the only electronics is the micro, a relay board to control the air blast pneumatic valve and a wall-wart power supply.

I'm still fighting to get the aiming exactly right. However, aiming is sorta working, air on/off, timed air, wiggle mode and the keyboard shortcuts are all working. Total code is less than 300 lines including lots of comments and debug code. The electronics cost about $15 plus $25 for the servo. Now to complete the mechanics and box things!

[rdsi]

My coding skills with micros is far better than with Linux so I wanted to minimize PP changes.

Are you plugged into the USB port & parsing the SmartCool commands to run your probe?

[kstrauss]

Yes, I have a Leonardo plugged into a USB port. I parse the commands sent by PP and move the nozzle and control the air as commanded. Only a single line of PP must be changed.

[rdsi]

Sounds like you found your path - good deal!

I don't know a lot about the Leonardo board but there should be a way to tweak it so it returns the right ID. Then you wouldn't have to change PP at all.

As for PP updates I have a bash script that I wrote to handle all my modification. After installing any updates I run the script and it adds all my changes back in. It's smart enough to know if the area I have modified has changed or has been updated the script will complain so I can decided what to do then.

So far I haven't had any problems with this - knock on metal ...

[jwatte]

You can set up a rule in /etc/udev/rules.d/ to create the symlink /dev/zbot_schnozz to your Leonardo serial port, and then you need no modification to your Leonardo nor to your PathPilot software.

[jwatte]

all we need is a stepper motor hanging onto the spindle

The Schnozz/SmartCool uses a Robotis AX-12A servo motor, which has an absolute position sensor. It talks single-duplex TTL serial protocol, and costs about $45. It's a reasonable choice for this kind of application. (Robotis has since released an even cheaper and mechanically smaller version called the XL-320, it's about $25.)

[kstrauss]

You can set up a rule in /etc/udev/rules.d/ to create the symlink /dev/zbot_schnozz to your Leonardo serial port, and then you need no modification to your Leonardo nor to your PathPilot software.

That is precisely what I did -- a one line change to PP! I assume that the change will be overwritten when I do the next upgrade but it isn't hard to redo.

I'd like to implement my own version of the Tormach Shuttle but the PP Shuttle handler checks the VID/PID so it isn't as simple as with the SmartCool and USBIO boards. I notice that there is a rule for "Tormach_MPG" that connects to something with an FTDI USB chip. Any idea what that is for?

[TurboStep]

..."Tormach_MPG" that connects to something with an FTDI USB chip. Any idea what that is for?...

If you check out the photos of the 1100MX you'll see a pendant on the right side of the monitor. I'd assumed it was the interface for that.
I'm not very keen on the SmartCool but I just reprogrammed one of my USBIO clones to behave like the SmartCool thinking I would get signals for M7 and (pure) M8. Alas, M8 still runs via the old route (obvious with hindsight) so I'll go back to modding PP for now - not that I actually need both M7 and M8 at all. It was just for fun.
For me the USB interface was the obvious place to hook into these systems because all commands and data pass though this one channel and it's likely to remain stable - by that I mean the interface isn't going to change with every PP release.
Step

[jwatte]

a one line change to PP!

If you create a new file in "/etc/udev/rules.d", it will not be removed by the next update.
The updates mainly update the "v2.xxxx" directories and update the "tmc" symlink to point to the new version.
In general, I think of "PathPilot" as the TMC directory/code, and the greater OS simply as Linux Mint.
For example, new files in the "operator" home directory do not get deleted, nor do files in the "gcode/" subdirectory.

[dorro1971]

Hi Kstrauss,

could you share your leonardo code and the line to modify?..

I'd like to simulate an atc and getting a head start on usb/serial data transfer would give me a huge leap forwards.

Thank you in advance...

Ian